Readers' comments

A few observations on three of my favorite publications I used to/ still read here in Asia:
1. FEER's slow decade-long demise from a top-rate business magazine,
2. Asian Wall Street Journal's shrinkage both in physical size and content, and
3. The Economist's continued increase in selling price it's now almost unaffordable to buy it. Sigh.

I am absolutely disgusted that as Asia rises to the forefront as an economic powerhouse, the FEER is removed as a regional voice. This must have been in collaboration with a particular large govt, and I am not impressed at yet another way of silencing Western dissent to Asian (i.e. Chinese mostly) controls. Look at the new argument brewing over the tyre import/export industry with tit-for-tat arguments already happening with chicken exports. Who better to report on both sides of the tax argument and anti-dumping than FEER - but they won't be around soon. Therefore we are at the reporting mercy of what reliable regional source in English to maintain a grip of the true nature of business in the region? Who? another Murdoch entity, I guess....... The Asians do like a monopoly though, I must admit.

Oddly the demise of the magazine is correlated with the rise of Asian economies. But then again, Asian business practices in developing countries are a bit raw, cooked intellectual interpretation of it probably didn't have much practical use for the wider audience. As for Rupert, sounds like he thought he was doing a charitable act by sustaining the magazine, since it directs inflow (but also outflow) of foreign direct investment in the region.
Regardless of its views, lamentation on my part, fore an intellectual voice has fallen.

The Far eastern Economic Review was a scientific tool left over by the British, American, France and others; a magazine measures each country performance over another by the masters ruled there. Finally, Hong Kong, Ma Cau returned to China, everything you could say disappearing fast! It is difficult to predict what Asia is doing now after they have learned a hard lesson of the 90’s crash. The Asian investors are likely to invest in a safe and secured market. The West however would like to see more instantaneous investment with high return and Asian is not a place for that any more.
I do not think it has to do with anything about anti-Asian, nor anti- China! Asian as they are now than ever before!

For a glimpse of the quality of such publication, just count how many comments will now call Far Eastern Economic Review "anti-asian".
The only other news outlet that has been called like that so often must be the Economist itself.

[ASIA, short enough already of sources of regional news and comment]? Not if you can read Chinese or other Asian languages.

There were two excellent weekly magazines published in English in Hong Kong, the[Far Eastern Economic Review] and the [Asia Week].

[Asia Week]: Unfortunately, [Time] bought [Asia Week] in the late 80s (?)and only to close it down not long after. [Asia Week] seemed to have kept its independent editorial board even after Time acquisition though.

It ran articles of relevance in Asia and published weekly key economic indicators of Asian countries plus major Western nations and select nations around the world akin to Economist’s EIU data, all this before the advent of internet and www.

[Far Eastern Economic Review]: Unfortunate also, it took so long until now for The Review to sign off after Dow Jones bought it.

With its independent editorship immediately succumbed to the new owner since its take over, the [Review] was bound to fail.

The [Review] would soon became nothing but a mouthpiece of anti Asian and anti Chinese stance propaganda, particularly just before and after the 1997 Hong Kong reversion back to China. Obviously they bet on the wrong horse and stayed wrong in hindsight.

Small wonder that Singapore saw fit to ban the [Review] and I am just as dumfounded why it wasn't banned in China (It's not true that it was blocked in China as I have seen it in Beijing foreign bookstores and hotel shops rather regularly.)

The late Derek Davis must be turning in his grave. It was under his editorship in the 1970s and the early 1980s that the Review made its mark as the region's most authoritative news magazine. Every ex-Review staffer knows that its days were numbered the day Dow Jones bought it. The Asian Wall Street Journal never enjoyed the kind of readership and readers' loyalty as that of the Review. And it wasn't a secret that the Americans wanted the AWSJ to supplant the Review. The AWSJ was losing money, and the Wall Street Journal Asian Edition is losing money. But why doesn't RM kill it? Same goes with Asiaweek. Time bought Asiaweek in order to kill it because it saw it as a competitor to Time Asia. There was no reason to as Asiaweek's readership and advertising revenue had surpassed that of the Review. It was making money.

Asian are cultures of listening and no opinions! The older are always right and to be respected at home, at the office and religious places! You can arguably this is wrong, but what is right? The West suffered from what may be were wrong, but is rightly respected and traditions in other region of the world!

The West cultures clearly wanted to clarify what are right and wrong, evil and not evil. The Far East, not thing is right or wrong, how you interpreted it by listening and no opinion until it happened and that why you do not get much out from the people? May be the West do the same, not to talk too much, wait and see and see the outcome. Can it or not?

Asia is short of sources of regional news and comment? Maybe not, particularly if you could read one of the languages in the area. The closure of the magazine is a loss, to be sure, but internet is flooded with news, comments, and blogs on the political economy of the region.

One of the most informative magazine about asia. Indeed it was an easy read, simple, concised, sincered to the point. One of the best magazine to keep up with the rise of geopolitics in asia, Asean, Apec etc.

EdwinTRAN:
Great news, socialist is making a comeback. We now realized sinced the 70s capitalism is one Ponzi scheme supporting another. All the tailgating economies that follow Aamerica with their hyperinflated GDP is living off the sweatshops of others.
America can't prop anything up anymore, nor can they afford to.
Thank God.

Far eastern no more than a few dragons and a dozen baby tiger’s in the region. It was correctly quoted ‘Asia’s mysteries are lost’! The dragons may survive the era, but the tigers group was fed far too long in a zoo by the US war allied! To me I called this as the Economics Zoo (EZoo) Era? The EZoo Era economy is where a country became prosperity influenced by another country struggles. Many counties like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore were supplying good and services to the US Army fought in Vietnam and much of the US economy made during the second world war then again passed on to these countries. The Dragons went on learning the art of management, advanced their research & development, modern the philosophy of competition and master their businesses, which visibly seen country like Japan, Korea. While the tigers behaved much more authoritarian alike, which is quite rightly to say ‘the mystery is lost’ and the so EZoo era is partly lost forever. From the Far eastern divided into two clan; dragon and tigers Era. The Movie of Kung fu Panda scene explained everything! To master the Panda King Fu skills, dragons and tigers much work together like a team!